Testimonials About Ray and THRIVE

I don’t have a chronic illness, but I work with Ray because he makes things so easy. I originally saw him for some bodywork because of his massage therapy skills. I’ve been a massage therapist for over 20 years, I’m also a certified yoga teacher and reiki master. After my first visit I was hooked, I had never had such thorough body work done that both stuck and resulted in immediate and long-lasting relief fast. When he told me, he was better at fitness coaching than massage and had an all inclusive program designed to work with the bodywork I had received, I had to try it out. It complemented his bodywork seamlessly, plus I got an easy to follow nutrition plan and a ton of support. It’s been a great experience and I feel like everything is already taken care of. All I need to do is open my phone and access his fitness and nutrition app. His programs are all online which is quite different than anything I had gone through in the past, but I was willing to try. I’m so glad I did. Its almost too easy with all his latest tech and his level of empathy. It’s a mix hard to match and the way he understands me and meets me in the place I am in today, is very rare and a welcomed change. All I need to do is put in the work and that somehow seems easier now. If you have an option to see him in person, you must schedule a bodywork session, you won’t be disappointed. Its worth every penny.

– Brandi

After losing 188lbs on my own, I still had doctors who didn’t know how to help me manage my chronic illness successfully without a bunch of medication or worse. Most of the time I’d feel great, on top of the world even. I was pushing my body to new limits with workouts, obstacle course racing, and various 1/2 marathon to full marathon races. However, as time was going on and I was pushing my body too far, my chronic illness forced me to stop the things I love, sometimes for months at a time. I was on iron infusions, multiple supplements and was not able to do the activities I love for 6 months or more. Once I started feeling better I jumped back into the activities I learned to love, only find that I’d have a few good days then bad days that would have me couch bound, negatively affecting my training on multiple levels. That’s when I reached out to Ray.
I’ve known Ray for years and I know he has helped others with many different chronic illnesses. Ray is not judgmental, a great listener and always seems to know exactly what it is I’m experiencing in a way only someone that has gone through it would understand. His passion is helping people, I’m glad he works with, and understands people like me. When you’re ready and willing to work as hard on yourself as he does, he will be there, every step of the way. With Rays help I’m getting back to running. The increased inflammation I constantly battle with is staying down, I’m able to digest foods better so I’m eating less, have less belly aches and now I get to enjoy many more good days than bad. With Rays help I’m able to stay on track easier and get back to the activities I love with 100% confidence in my body! It’s a simple choice for me, it’s easier to stay at optimal health when I have the right kind of support and experience I can count on. YouFit provides that support in a way only Ray can. With my constantly changing body and needs, I can’t keep up most the time. I’m glad there is someone in my corner that can.

– Charlotte

Struggles before TT: Emotional stress eating (turned around and HUGE). Learned tactics to manage stress without emotional eating.

Obstacles in your way before TT: Didn’t know how to self-care, never put herself first and always worried about what she wasn’t doing when resting.

Learned self care and the amazing feelings that go with it. She learned its okay to put herself first, so she can take better care of others. Learned its not just one thing, its a combo of things that are put together in a simple system to realize how to put herself first through self awareness. Other options besides eating. She has the same feelings, just different actions, and responses to those feelings.

Non-judgemental, listen and understand so no fear in sharing personal experience. Learned to identify dismissed pain like daily headaches and deal with and overcome them. Learned how to rest without guilt, and how certain foods and fats were contributing to the headaches.

– Dannette

I’m definitely going to give it my best effort. Wanted to lose weight and fit into clothes in two closets. I lost 10 lbs, clothes fit better.

Today I am grateful for family and acceptance. Today I am grateful that I slept in, completed my grocery shopping list, and had time to relax and watch football. Grateful I raised amazing boys. I’m grateful that I’m sticking with my plan to be healthier. I love my ability to laugh, it got me through a crazy Friday. Grateful that I can go out and have a splurge night and feel good about it! Cheers! Grateful that I always find time during the day for myself to stretch and breathe. Grateful for the love in my heart that I have for myself and others around me. Grateful for the kayak in the sunshine. Hey, I feel like I’m making progress. I’m close to 10 pounds down but put the scale away, I was on it too much. I love the small changes that are turning into habits, good healthy habits. I definitely feel better on the inside! I’m loving new things and getting outside my comfort zone. I know, when I can wear jeans that didn’t fit last year, that’s a great feeling! I actually feel so much better without all those carbs! Grateful for the new healthy, positive habits I’m forming!! Grateful that I have learned so much! #winning

Grateful for another successful yoga session! I’m thinking yoga is my thing, who knew!

– Heather Hall

I thought I would be a hard case but you proved that to be wrong you were able to help me with my struggles and for that I’m grateful. I am still working on it, I’m not where I want to be yet but I have one hell of a coach on my side.

I am more confident and working on putting myself first. The weight is coming off very nicely, food prep is easier than ever with healthier food options that make me feel good”

– Jessica Johnson

My life is crazy and chaotic and often times I feel like I am barely keeping afloat. I found I was always saying yes to everything, only accepting perfection from myself and running myself ragged. I had reached a point where I was at the end of my rope and my health was suffering. Doctors couldn’t figure out why I was having a host of crazy symptoms and it was a little scary. I chalked it all up to being a mom of five kids and pushed on like I had always done.
I had reached a point in life where I didn’t feel like I was really living anymore, due to never feeling well enough to enjoy the simplest of things. Then trying to account for unexplained hives at any moment or a headache that felt like it would never end. It was incredibly frustrating and I was ready to try anything.
Then enters an old friend who has his own crazy journey with an autoimmune disease and figured out how to navigate life and reach a great state of health, both mentally and physically. He was the first person I talked to and after going over my long list of symptoms, said:

1. “I understand”
2. “No, you aren’t crazy”
3. “You can overcome all of this and live a better life”

I’ve worked with Ray for the past 4 months and my life is completely different. There are no longer unexplained hives, or headaches that go on for days with no reason, or that consistent feeling of generally not feeling well.
He has taught me how to pay attention to what my body needs and what it is telling me. My body was saying slow down and I rest, but my interpretation was I more coffee to keep pushing. As much as I pushed and didn’t take care of myself the more my body pushed back. I was essentially trying to pour from an empty cup.

This journey so far has lead me to embrace simplicity, imperfection, quiet time, gratitude, self-care and earlier bedtimes. We as mom’s get especially caught up in what everyone else needs that we forget to take care of ourselves. I had become a mom rooting from the sidelines watching my kids enjoy life, when what I really wanted was to play WITH them and build memories together.

It was an incredible experience to take my kids to Great Wolf Lodge and spend the whole time actually playing and laughing WITH my children. To hear “this was the best trip ever Mom” was icing on the cake to an incredible weekend. The better part is this is how we live life now, I get to be a mom who feels better every day and I get to play and interact with my kids without repercussions to my health.
I am still learning on this journey and I still have setbacks but my setbacks are becoming fewer and easier to manage. Food has become a friend instead of a foe once again, and that long list of food sensitivities that caused me so much pain has become only a few.

The clarity of mind has made saying “no” to things much easier and has given me a new sense of control over life. I now pour from a full cup and know what I need to make sure my cup stays full. The best money I ever spent on myself (Randy agrees) is to work with Ray. He has given my family and I the tools to live long full lives and I trust him. If you are dealing with autoimmune issues he’s the man to call!

– Michelle Kane

As a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine, my official job is as an educator. To help people learn about underlying health conditions and advise them as to how they can heal. As the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.

Ray is not that horse. I started working with Ray in 2008. There were so many challenges. It seemed like we would approach one thing and something new would change. From metabolism, adrenal fatigue, low blood sugar, and vitamin imbalance it was a long road.

Ray is amazing, he realized from the start that the body needed to heal “Mind, Body and Spirit”. Add to that he realized that everyone is different as to how they heal and their underlying conditions. He took hold of his knowledge in Diet and Fitness along with his amazing intuition not only to help heal himself but now to help others.

I have been very close with Ray for many years and followed his path of healing and all his studies to become an amazing man and awesome healer. I am so excited about his new ventures and would not hesitate in the least to send people his way for that custom plan in helping to heal. He rocks!

– Dr. Deborahe

Well, it’s been a week since I started working with Ray Graber. I’ll be honest…I initially really didn’t want to. Like…REALLY didn’t want to. I even avoided it. I’m very well-versed in chronic disease, and extremely self-motivated and I didn’t see how a “life/health” coach was going to add any value to my life but cost a lot of money I didn’t have. I’ve chased the root causes, I’ve added all the supplements, been through all the meds, and all the physical therapy, visited all the doctors and naturopaths, and have literally spent thousands & thousands of dollars trying to get well. And I did a decent job getting better but I was still struggling in some areas.

The fatigue was killing me, though. As a single mom working way too many hours and commuting 3 hours per day, I didn’t have time to deal with any more health crap. I was desperate…desperate enough to try anything.
Seven days is not a long time, not in comparison to my health dysfunction. I have decades of disease under my belt. I finally decided to give Ray a chance. He pissed me off, you know. Him being all healthy and vibrant! But something about his energy drew me and I just…decided to trust him. What else did I have to lose anyway?

Seven days. The most dramatic shift in my health and mindset of any practitioner or book or protocol yet. I’ve been doing this for decades, remember? Everything changed on Day 1.
I expected major overhauls. I expected a book of rules, apps, charting, exercise, meditation, and more, more, more. He gave me less. In one phone call, he had me crying with just one sentence. I don’t know how he does it, but he has the ability to see beyond your words and pull out exactly what is stopping your soul/health/energy. And then he says that little “key” in the most loving way possible. And my world changed. I’m serious…dramatic shift in my direction. Even if I never speak to him again, from that first conversation forward, I cannot be the same in how I view myself, my direction, or my health.

And that’s what most of us really want, right? Some “switch” to flip and it all changes. That happened.

What came after that conversation was heartfelt, loving conversations. Hands-on attention. I really felt like I was being an attention-hog but this is what he does. He loves & guides through the initial noise until the principles are internalized. I have danced more, lived more & cried more cleansing tears in the last seven days than in the last five years.
It was small tweaks. LESS. Less striving, less pills, no testing…just tweaks. I can’t explain it but when he says “back to basics,” that’s exactly what he means and exactly what we as chronic disease patients NEED.

He knows when he needs to ask for help, but so far he hasn’t needed to – nothing is a surprise. It’s like ALL of me is his arena. My emotional needs, my relationships, work, driving, jaw pain, fatigue, my diet, my exercise, my dreams…all of it is his arena. Every part of me.
I’m excited for what the future will bring now, instead of begrudgingly hoping I can “power” through it to get well.

So, all of that to say, I highly recommend Ray to anyone who can’t get well and feels like they’ve tried it all. Heck, even normal people should work with him lol. It’s not a forever thing, it’s devoting a little time to finding our highest, best selves. Out of hundreds of practitioners I’ve seen, no one has come close.

– Trish Powers